President
Bill Clinton,
his frustration evident, complained to his staff in a private Oval Office meeting that his message was falling flat.

"It's astonishing how much we've done," Mr. Clinton said. "But we lose the story line, and we don't have anybody else out there helping us with it. And nobody's out there fighting for it.… There is no story line; the story line has been lost."

The lament came from Mr. Clinton in August 1994, less than two years into his presidency. It was a time when the White House was struggling to manage multiple controversies and policy debates, among them an independent counsel's investigation into the Whitewater land deal and Paula Jones's sexual-harassment lawsuit against the president. Mr. Clinton was on the brink of watching his party lose control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

"You ought to go back and read my announcement speech. I did it last week—the speech I made announcing for president," Mr. Clinton instructed his staff, saying it would help guide them in publicizing his accomplishments and his agenda, and "re-establish it with real energy."

Mr. Clinton's remarks, included in a transcript produced as part of a speech-preparation session, were among thousands of pages of documents from his administration made public Friday by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, giving researchers a broader view of the inner workings of his presidency. They were the second tranche of about 33,000 pages that the National Archives and Records Administration had withheld under legal exemptions, which expired last year.

A review of the material released Friday shows a young president struggling to connect with voters, sparking concerns among top aides that his political capital was diminishing.

One memo, from then-Clinton adviser Bill Galston in 1995, captures some of the White House's internal worries. Mr. Galston, laying out ideas for a State of the Union speech, warned that while "the American people have not given up on the Clinton presidency," the speech might "well be our last chance for a very long time to command the attention of the people as a whole."

Amid low poll numbers for the president, Clinton aides worried Republicans were gaining a foothold with voters. In a September 1994 memo, Clinton advisers
John Podesta
and Todd Stern offer a grim assessment of Democrats' prospects in the approaching midterms.

"The president's approval ratings are low, Republicans seem aggressive, and Democrats appear hunkered down with no message," the memo says. "As a result, the conventional wisdom is that the Democrats are going to get whipped in November, the only question being how badly."

Mr. Podesta, who now serves as a top adviser to President
Barack Obama,
and Mr. Stern offered a plan of action they described as a "burst out" week aimed at highlighting Democratic accomplishments and what they described as Republican obstructionism.

"The essence of our message should be that there is a sharp contrast between Democrats responsible for real accomplishments to help working families and Republicans who have marched lockstep behind Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich and the special interests in voting 'no.' "

Still, Republicans won that November, gaining majorities in both the House and the Senate.

Faced with a more hostile partisan landscape, the White House tried to come up with a strategy to cope with the opposition Congress. In December 1994, a month after the midterm elections, Clinton aide Michael Waldman wrote that the White House needed a strategy "on how to paint the GOP as the party of wealthy special interests."

Advisers disagreed about how to address the GOP takeover of Congress. A memo from former Clinton adviser Paul Begala in January 1995 about the State of the Union speech advised against Mr. Clinton "making fun of our ass-whipping in November, or suggesting it was because of him we got creamed."

"I'm concerned it could look like a white flag of surrender," Mr. Begala said.

In the end, it doesn't look like the speech writers followed Mr. Begala's advice.

Invoking his own election to the White House, Mr. Clinton quipped to a Congress led by a new GOP majority: "As I look out at you, I know how some of you must have felt in 1992.''

As time passed, Mr. Clinton regained his footing. He won re-election in 1996 as he veered to the political center, embracing policies such as a welfare overhaul that imposed new work requirements on beneficiaries. He left office with an approval rating that topped 60%, according to Gallup.

WSJ opens select articles to reader conversation to promote thoughtful dialogue. See the 'Join the Conversation' area to the rightbelow for stories open to conversation. For more information, please reference our community guidelines. Email feedback and questions to moderator@wsj.com.